>From an early age, Muhammad Abdul Raouf Arafat
al-Qudwa al-Husseini, the sixth child of a Palestinian
spice, incense and grocery merchant, sensed that a
high destiny awaited him. It did - but Yasser Arafat,
who has died aged 75, assuredly earned it by his own
endeavours too.

By the standard of lifelong, indefatigable, and for
him courageous dedication to a cause, he deserved the
title of Mr Palestine that he held for a whole
generation of his people's struggle. But by the
standards of ultimate achievement, he didn't; rarely
can a "liberator" have strayed further from the
original ideals of "liberation".

2) Iraq's Death Database:

http://www.iraqbodycount.net/database/

3) Hatra under threat due to military explosions:

http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=11637

Controlled explosions threaten World Heritage site in
Iraq. Senior US officer describes it as a “dismaying
situation”

By Martin Bailey
Controlled explosions at an ammunition dump at Hatra,
south of Mosul, are threatening to seriously damage an
important ancient site that is on Unesco’s World
Heritage list. Colonel Paul Woerner, the senior civil
affairs officer in the US embassy in Baghdad
responsible for Iraq’s northern cities, has been
trying to control what he calls a “dismaying
situation”....

4) Reader contribution re: secession plan:

Earlier today a friend and I discussed the idea that
the Blue states should request that we become part of
Canada. The new providences would be: Pacifica, Great
Lakes, New Canada and Paridise (the western blue
states, the midwest, new england and hawaii)

Canada would gain Hollywood, Silcon Valley, the great
forests of the western coastal states, the vineyard
and control of the Pacific coastline. They would also
gain valuable agriculture land, almost sole control of
the Great Lakes, iron & taconite, lots of dairy, the
auto industry, etc. Mountains, lakes, vacation spots.

These new providences would be self-supporting and not
a strain on Canada's budget, since we would bring with
us the cities of CA, Chicago, New York, Boston, etc.
Great universities - diverse business interests.

This should occur on inaugaration day.

For 2 years after the change, the borders would be
open - republicans who live in blue states would be
free to move to a red state and the "liberals" in red
states could move to the blue states. Housing would
not be a problem, nor would jobs, since the election
really was fairly well split (not withstanding those
who didn't vote - but if you didn't vote, you're stuck
where you are - if you didn't exercise your rights on
election day, we don't care if you like the plan or
not.)

2 years later - the borders get closed! We build a
HUGE wall like Israeli did to keep the "reds" out,
since they are terrorizing our democracy. Then we
modify NAFTA so that what's remaining of the USA is
excluded. Set tariffs really high on anything we
export (like movies, computer chips, dairy products,
etc.) They can do as they wish - the evangelical
neo-cons.

Is it a plan or what? (-:

5) There were a flurry of election fraud conspiracy
theory postings today. Here's one petition on that
account:

http://www.moveon.org/investigatethevote/

6) Here's another:

Amid the appeals over the last week for a healing of
political divisions another call has been muted: the
call for a full investigation of the election
irregularities documented by Election Protection
volunteers and others. We must let our voices be heard
by Congress and the media so that evidence and
testimony can be secured, examined and, ultimately,
used to inform future efforts to protect voters'
rights, whether they be a week, a month, or four years
down the road.

You can help today by taking two actions. First,
e-mail a letter to your members of Congress urging
them to support an investigation of election problems
across the nation by the General Accountability
Office, Congress' independent and nonpartisan
investigative arm.

http://www.pfaw.org/go/Election2004/supportGAOinvestigation

Second, write a letter to local media outlets that
briefly describes election-day problems you witnessed
and that encourages others to join the call for a
complete accounting of the election failures on
November 2.

http://www.pfaw.org/go/Election2004/LTEforinvestigation

Public pressure, led by Election Protection volunteers
like you, is critical in the coming weeks.
Simultaneously, PFAW Foundation's Election Protection
team is supporting efforts to impound voting machines,
or obtain back-up data from machines, in Florida,
Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Mexico because of reported
voting discrepancies and problems. We are also
collaborating on public hearings in Ohio to take
official testimony and input from voters and
volunteers who observed problems there on November 2
(hearing details to follow in a subsequent e-mail).
Last but not least, Election Protection attorneys are
pursuing challenges to some troubling election
incidents, including the failure of elections
officials to supply absentee ballots to voters that
requested them and the inconsistent application of
voter identification and provisional ballot
requirements.

We wrote last week that Election Protection was a
success because of what you put into it. That success
instills in us a deeper obligation to keep striving
for an election when every eligible voter will be able
to cast a ballot that counts. You helped put democracy
to the test -- now we must sort through the results,
pinpoint the problems, and find the answers. All of
the wonderful comments we've received from volunteers
have assured us that you are committed to the same
goal.

Please speak out today for a thorough investigation of
the 2004 election. Election Protection still has much
to do, and we'll make sure that you stay up-to-date
with regular e-mail alerts.

Thank you,
Ralph G. Neas
President
People For the American Way Foundation

P.S. - Many of you took the time to e-mail us at
ephotline@pfaw.org with constructive comments and
suggestions for improving Election Protection and our
nation's elections system. Even as Election
Protection's work continues, we are taking the time to
evaluate the program, and your feedback is very
helpful. We do want to re-emphasize, however, that
Election Protection remains completely nonpartisan and
100% focused on safeguarding the rights of each voter.
Our post-November 2 efforts are not intended to change
election results for any issue, party or candidate.

7) Mainstream press rebuts conspiracy theories

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41106-2004Nov10.html

8) Political Cartoon on Reps vs. Dems.:

http://www.buzzflash.com/anderson/04/10/and04053.html

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